The 243rd Thousand of “Domestic Cookery, by a Lady,” has been published in the present year. This is perhaps the most popular and practical work of the kind which has ever appeared in England, but it is exclusively a middle-class book, and intended for the rich bourgeoisie. The compiler, Mrs. Rundell, had spent the early part of her life in India, and the work is enriched with many receipts of Indian cookery. It is on the whole a succinct and judicious compilation, but though well worth its price, it is yet far from being a perfect production. For many years, if report speaks truly, it has produced 1000l. a year to the publisher, and he is said to have very liberally presented the authoress with a present of 2000l.
I have not hitherto spoken of the “Cookery Book of Carème,” nor did I notice it among the French works on cookery, for two reasons: first, because Carème had been cook to George IV.; to the Marquis of Wellesley, and to the Marquis of Londonderry; and had spent a considerable portion of his life in England, or in the service of Englishmen; and, secondly, because the book has been translated by Mr. Hall, “cook to T. P. Williams, Esq., of Temple House, near Marlow, and conductor of the parliamentary dinners of Lord Canterbury.” The translation is very clumsily and sometimes incorrectly executed, but as the translator is himself a cook and a conductor of dinners! (the office seems to us new and original) it will be more convenient to take his version of the original. Mr. Hall has at least one requisite for his task, namely, admiration of his author. “I conceive (says he in his preface) I am laying before my readers the productions of a man whose abilities transcended the generality of writers in the art, whose imagination greatly enlarged the variety of entrées and entrémêts previously practised, and whose clear and perspicuous details render them facile not only to the artist who has already an advance in his profession, but also to those whose knowledge of the higher code of the kitchen has been necessarily limited.” The following are Carème’s notions on large dishes of fish, not rendered certainly into very pure and undefiled English by Mr. Hall. The sense and substance of the author are however preserved:
“OF LARGE DISHES OF FISH.
“I had remarked,” says M. Carème, “at the grand dinners of Prince Talleyrand, that the larger pieces of cookery of the first course never corresponded with the elegance of the bronzes, the glass, and the plate. Delivering myself up entirely to cookery, I promised myself that I would reform an infinity of old usages, though practised as they were by the greatest masters of the art. When I became chief of the kitchen of the Emperor Alexander, I commenced this great reform. In the years 1816 and 1817 I was in England with the Prince Regent, and I was there gratified, for this truly royal table was always served in the French manner, and the service of silver was so superb and elegant that I was struck with wonder. It appeared then, that it would advance my reputation to commence the reform that I had proposed. What could be more ridiculous and absurd than, for instance, to see served pike or carp à la Chambord, the garniture of which were composed of larded sweetbreads, young pigeons, cocks’ combs, and kidneys? But such was, however, the practice of men highest in reputation.
“When at Vienna with Lord Stewart (now Marquis of Londonderry), his Britannic Majesty’s ambassador at the court of Austria, I for the first time served the carp à la Chambord, surrounded with my new garnitures of fish: this large piece was noticed, and the nobility of Vienna, as well as my illustrious employer, approved this novelty; for it is certain that in the Austrian capital, until then, the French cooks in reputation there had preserved the ancient customs of Paris. I think that a cook can never make too many pecuniary sacrifices to accelerate the progress of his art. I each day feel a grateful satisfaction in my work, from the flattering encouragements I receive from the noble personages I serve, but to accomplish it I have not only made great sacrifices in money, but every day have meditated on some new thing: this work will afford proofs of it.”
The following is Carème’s idea of our English turtle soup, which we will reproduce in speaking of soups:—
“TURTLE SOUP.
“This soup is, without contradiction, the most lengthened in its details of any that are known; the composition of its seasoning claims an able hand and a strong memory. The palate of the cook who executes it should be very fine; none of the ingredients should predominate, not even the cayenne or allspice, which the English cooks inconsiderately employ.”
How well expressed is this! What parliamentary language! An able hand and a strong memory; and then the “inconsiderate” use of spices is as delicately and dexterously hinted as though Carème had taken practical lessons of the late Sir Robert Peel, or studied Hamilton’s Parliamentary Logic.
Notwithstanding the dictum of the author of the “Manuel des Amphitryons,” that “Un grand cuisinier ne doit point se livrer à la patisserie, dans laquelle il ne pourroit jamais être que mediocre,” it is in pastry and such small trifles that Carème chiefly shines. His work is unsuited to the mass of even the higher classes in this or any other country, and its use must be limited to persons of colossal fortune, who have thousands a year to expend in magnificent entertainments. The sale of such a work must, under any circumstances, be extremely limited, even though the price did not amount to the extravagant sum of twenty-one shillings.